Cancers, including leukemia, are the leading cause of death in animals and humans. The exact cause of leukemia is not known, but links between certain activities such as smoking or exposure to carcinogens and the incidence of certain types of leukemia and tumors has been shown by a number of researchers.
Many types of chemotherapeutic agents have been shown to be effective against cancers, tumors and leukemia, but not all types of cancer and tumor cells respond to these agents. Unfortunately, many of these agents also destroy normal cells. The exact mechanism for the action of these chemotherapeutic agents are not always known.
Despite advances in the field of cancer and leukemia treatments the leading therapies to date are radiation and chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants. Chemotherapeutic approaches are said to fight cancers that are particularly aggressive. Such cytocidal or cytostatic agents work best on cancers with large growth factors, i.e., ones whose cells are rapidly dividing. To date, hormones, in particular estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, and some antibiotics produced by a variety of microbes, alkylating agents, and anti-metabolites form the bulk of therapies available to oncologists. Ideally cytotoxic agents that have specificity for leukemia, cancer and tumor cells while not affecting normal cells would be extremely desirable. Unfortunately, none have been found and instead agents which target especially rapidly dividing cells (both diseased and normal) have been used.
Clearly, the development of materials that would target cancer or leukemia cells due to some unique specificity for them would be a breakthrough. Alternatively, materials that were cytotoxic to leukemia or cancer cells while exerting mild effects on normal cells would be desirable. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition that is effective in treating leukemia with mild or no effects on normal blood cells
More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a composition comprising a pharmaceutical carrier and a 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol and its derivatives as defined herein along with a method for treating cancer, leukemia and tumors.
The use of 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol and its derivatives in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents which are effective in destroying the tumor is a novel method of treatment. 2-(2,4-Difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-o l and its derivatives can also be used to treat viral infections either alone or in the presence of a potentiator.